Bossier School Leaders Make Changes in Response to Lawsuit Over Religion

Bossier school leaders have released a statement in response to a lawsuit filed against the Parish by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Here's what the response says:

The Bossier Parish School Board and its administration are committed to maintaining exceptional schools, respecting the rights and beliefs of every student and family in our community, and carefully following all applicable federal and state laws.

According to the lawsuit, the Bossier School District has been promoting Christianity in school classrooms and offices, as well as during school-sponsored events, including choir concerts, football games and graduations.

The suit claims students experience blatant, widespread violations of their religious freedom on a regular basis.

The statement from Bossier Schools adds:

The Board is in the process of updating and supplementing its policies to ensure full legal compliance across the school district and is scheduling mandatory in-service training for all administrators, teachers and coaches on the policies and underlying laws.

We trust these affirmative steps will resolve the current federal court matter in short order so that precious taxpayer funds can be spent on continuing to improve the quality of educational services provided to students rather than on potentially expensive litigation.

KEEL News has reached out to Bill Quigley, the Louisiana attorney assisting with the legal fight, but have not been able to contact him yet to find out if this response could lead to dismissal of the suit.